Minister of Science and Culture Petri Honkonen answered students’ questions at the Ask the Minister -event the student union held on Wednesday afternoon, 14th of September, in the LS2 hall of the University of Lapland. Students could ask the minister questions beforehand via a form as well as directly during the event. In this article we have summarised the minister’s answers to the questions presented at the event.
Every third student suffers from anxiety or mental health problems. It can be said that we have a pretty bad mental health crisis. How does the government intend to ensure the adequacy of mental health services for students?
The board has now decided on additional funding for FSHS (Finnish Student Health Service). It is also necessary because the students from university of applied sciences came under FSHS, which has been a good reform. The study psychologist side must be in order, but psychologist resources of FSHS must also be taken care of. You have to get treatment in time so that the problems don’t escalate.
It is also essential to take care of students’ sense of community. If all studies are done remotely, the sense of community suffers. It can make problems worse. It is also good to bring up the pressures that cause anxiety, stress and exhaustion. In my opinion, the study hours have already been tightened too much. Many people also work at the same time as they study, and it’s tough.
I remember from my own student days that the university was quite relaxed. It was easier and more relaxed than high school. I would hope that society’s demands could be eased.
Finland is often considered a model country for equality in education. However, even in Finland, education is inherited and learning outcomes differ according to family background. During the last twenty years, the development of equality in education has taken a worse direction. How could this development be dismantled and equality in education promoted?
Learning results have differentiated and Pisa results have weakened. It is a worrying development. These development costs are also connected to other social problems of society. Unemployment, livelihood problems and other social problems which accumulate for the same people. It is clear that families with these social problems do not end up in college in the same way as families where things are good.
Everyone should participate in working life. That’s the only way to be connected to society. Social and unemployment security need changes. We must be able to implement these changes in order to get unemployed people to work.
Problems often start already in elementary school. And already in early childhood education, it is possible to predict how likely it is that a child will end up in higher education, for example. It is important to ensure that there are safe adults in early childhood education and that early childhood education is accessible.
The primary school has collapsed in recent years due to wrong choices. Many boys pass primary school with poor academic results. We should focus on learning the basics. The well-being of society is troubled by the fact that these problems are tried to be fixed with plasters, when the root causes of the problems lie elsewhere. On the elementary school side, problems have been tried to be fixed with projects.
How much would the minister increase the tuition fee if he could decide for himself?
I don’t want to evaluate that. An expert might be able to say how big the living gap for students is, so he could answer this for me. However, I would return the study money to the original level it was before the cuts.
The transfer of students to the general housing benefit has improved the students’ living conditions, but a mistake was made. Cohabitation has decreased with the reform. Instead of roommates, expensive studios are now being built, and the housing benefit ends up in the investors’ pockets.
A comprehensive renovation would be needed for the student’s livelihood. A lot of changes have been made to student livelihoods in the last twenty years. It should be possible to study full-time with a study grant. Although of course it’s not a bad thing to work alongside your studies.
In what ways can students’ livelihood be secured in the future, when inflation threatens, the price of food has risen significantly and the price of electricity is already skyrocketing?
Linking the study grant to the index is a good thing. It helps a little. Now, when the cost of living really rises, with the index, the study grant will also really rise. If disaster strikes, we’ll see what else could be done.
Student life has experienced big changes during the 21st century, when degree periods have been restricted and study support months have been cut with a harsh hand. At the same time, for example, the number of students going on student exchange has decreased significantly and there is less participation in organisation activities. So it seems that there is not necessarily the same time or opportunities to grow outside of lectures during study hours. What does the minister think about this?
This is a bad development. Some sociologist might think that this is a development due to the individualisation of society, but I think that tightening study hours is the primary reason.
The task of the university is not only to produce degrees, but the university must be a place of education. In addition to scientific research, its task is also to educate Finnish youth and students not only in the scientific worldview and substance, but also to become members of society. It is sad that organisation activities and community spirit have suffered. I think the best thing about university was the communality: lounging in a cafe and talking about politics.
I myself have been on a student exchange, and I think everyone should go on an exchange. The universities also have something to do here: the universities must ensure that the studies completed during the exchange can be credited towards the degree.
The maximum price of a student meal will be increased by 50 cents from the beginning of October. From January, the meal subsidy will be increased by 25 cents. The increase in the meal subsidy is therefore not enough to cover the student’s growing costs. Are you going to fix this?
The regulation fixes the maximum price of a meal so that Student Restaurants can cope with the increased food costs. The increase in the meal allowance compensates for half of the increase in the maximum price. In the past, it has been done this way that when the maximum price of a meal has been increased, only part of the price increase has been compensated for the students.
Our goal in both Finland and Lapland is to get more and more international students here. How to get more international students to Finland and Lapland? How do we get them to gain a job and stay here after their studies?
The attractiveness of the area plays a big role here. Lapland has an exceptional brand and exceptional opportunities to attract international students and experts also permanently. The attractiveness of the place and the touristic assets can also be the assets on the basis of which someone may want to settle here.
The government has succeeded in speeding up the residence permit process. You don’t get a residence permit automatically yet, but the processing times have shortened significantly over the past couple of years.
Language skills play a big role in internationalisation. At least in the beginning, business has to be done in English. Finland should also be more active in the international market to attract talented people here. Many big European countries are running large campaigns to solve, for example, the shortage of nurses.
The regional student loan refund now moved forward, and the opinion round about the experimentation is currently underway. How likely do you think it is that the regional student loan rebate will bring permanent holding power to the regions with a loss of migration?
The area of the 25 municipalities for the trial was selected based on a study by the University of Eastern Finland. The survey mapped the municipalities with the biggest problems regarding access to highly educated workforce. In this trial, we will find out how student loan repayment affects will affect this are. In Norway, this has worked successfully since the beginning of the 90’s. It’s common there to try out life in northern Norway for a few years, and then maybe come back somewhere else, but there is always some who stay.
The welfare state won’t run if we don’t have a highly educated workforce like nurses and teachers all over the country. If we want to stick to the principle that the welfare state offers welfare services to everyone, then we have to try new ways to achieve that. After the trial, we will see how this regional student loan rebate works.
Regional student loan rebate is indeed being tried in Eastern Finland and a few municipalities in Northern Finland. In what other ways would you suggest Lapland’s traction and holding power can be strengthened?
Lapland has attraction factors related to tourism, and these factors should also be refined in order to strengthen the attraction and holding power of people. For example, people have moved to Northern Lapland because of nature. Lapland’s population has also turned to growth for the first time in years.
The financing model of universities has also become an issue. Do you feel that the current university funding model is equal for all universities in Finland? Should artistic production also be reflected in the funding of higher education institutions in addition to academic work?
The evaluation of the universities’ funding model started now. It will certainly provide data on how successful the financing model is. I am not so familiar with how artistic production is taken into account in the current model.
How will the goal of 50 % of people in Finland to have a a higher education be reflected in the funding model for higher education institutions?
Funding must be increased much more. The funding of higher education institutions has been increased by hundreds of millions this election period. New starting places have been increased significantly and new education programs have been granted, such as special pedagogy for the University of Lapland. However, we will certainly not reach the goal by 2030. It requires more starting positions.
At the same time, it is good to note that the age groups are decreasing rapidly. The birth cohorts are almost the same size as the starting places in higher education each year. Immigration is also needed. Finland cannot survive without significantly increasing immigration.
Share us a memory from your study days
As a member of the country’s government, talking about parties is a bit risky… But of course there were parties during my studies. I started university studies in 2007, and in 2008 Lehman Brothers collapsed and the recession began. At that time, I was the president of my own subject organisation and we organised a recession party in honour of the beginning of the recession. It was a good party. And even though at that time we were sure that we would graduate unemployed, despite the recession it was worth studying. Even if there were dips in the market, we still managed.
Bonus question: what do you think about fur farming?
A colleague has raised the issue to me and the topic has been on the back burner. For the election surveys, I have answered that fur farming can continue, but to be honest, at this time I would be ready to stop fur farming. The transition is already underway as production volumes are decreasing all the time. Personally, I feel that there are no grounds for fur farming. However, I cannot support the agenda of organisations pushing to stop fur farming.
Should we get a culture news programme instead of or in addition to the sports news programme (Urheiluruutu)?
Not a bad idea at all. Culture is something that brings well-being and meaning to life in the same way as sports.
The header image of the minister with some of the students and representatives of LYY was photographed by Jenna Kiviniemi (2022), a marketing designer at the University of Lapland.